The Fake King of Heroes
by Kuromoki
Summary: Undergoing complete overhaul and most likely will be re-written from all the glaring holes in this story. Discontinued.
1. Chapter 1

_**The Fake King of **_**_Heroes_**

_**Prologue:The thoughts of 'Death'**_

* * *

**Excerpt from the Italian mage Alberto Ricardo's Book, _Demon King_, 19th Century**

...To those who accomplished this formidable feat, I grant them the title of **Campione – Godslayer – **.

Among all virtuous readers, some will probably believe that I over-exaggerate with that title and crown, while others will think that I am making undue fuss over it.

However, I want to emphasize it, once again.

Campione – Godslayer – is the supreme ruler.

Since he can kill a celestial being, he can therefore call on the highly divine powers held by the gods.

Campione – Godslayer – is a lord.

Since the power to kill a deity is in their hands, they therefore have the power to dominate the mortals on Earth.

Campione – Godslayer – is a devil.

Therefore of the entire humanity living on earth, those who have the power to oppose them do not exist!

* * *

**Research on the [Heretic God] Gilgamesh, by Kusanagi Godou**

In Mesopotamian Mythology [Heretic God] Gilgamesh was the king of Uruk.

Commonly referred to as [The King of Heroes], he is the offspring between the mortal Lugalbanda and the Goddess Ninsun marking him as a demigod. Due to this union between mortal and divinity Gilgamesh was born with strength beyond that of human understanding, but weaker than that of Gods. His name Gilgamesh means "Mythican Hero" in Sumerian. His notable achievements include building the walls of Uruk to defend his people from external threats and traveled to meet the sage Utnapishtim, who had survived the 'Great Deluge'.

His companion through these adventures was a fellow demigod called Enkidu. Enkidu formed from clay and saliva by the Aruru, the goddess of creation, to rid Gilgamesh of his arrogance and as an answer to the people living under Gilgamesh's tyrannical rule. When Enkidu and Gilgamesh clash, afterwards with Gilgamesh's arrogance ridden, Enkidu stays as a constant companion helping him rule over Uruk.

On these adventures, Gilgamesh and Enkidu slayed Humbaba the "Guardian of Fortress of Intestines" and bringing cedar to the timber less Mesopotamia. Another was when Gilgamesh and Enkidu slayed the Bull of Heaven that had terrorized Uruk for 7 years, causing mass famine and destruction on Earth. However the Goddess Ishtar who had the Bull of Heaven released on Earth demanded that one be killed for going against the will god. The other gods agreed and Gilgamesh's companion Enkidu gradually fell ill and died after 12 days of suffering for going against the will of god despite being created by god.

This led to Gilgamesh fearing death and going on a journey to meet the sage Utnapishtim in search of immortality. In the end, he couldn't attain immortality but Utnapishtim pointed him towards a plant that restored youth. Finding the plant and continuing on his journey, when he stopped to bathe in a pool, a snake steals the plant which allowed it to shed its old skin and start afresh with a new one. Disappointed and tired, but also wiser and at peace with himself, Gilgamesh returns to Uruk to await his death.

With his heritage and adventures Gilgamesh has gained many items over his lifetime. This meant that at one time he once owned everything in the world.

The [Heretic God] Gilgamesh had many authorities that granted him title [The King of Heroes] such as the fabled [Gate of Babylon] which stored all his treasures, [Ea-The Sword of Rupture] which divided Heaven and Earth, [Enkidu-The Chain of Heaven] which restrained the Bull of Heaven and others which are less known.

Research still in progress...

* * *

**Kusanagi Godou's thoughts on the concept of 'Life and Death', Beginning of the 21st Century**

_Death is but a cycle that will flush out the 'old' and usher in the 'new', one should not worry about 'Death' for it will claim you when it will, for the moment just live the life that we've been granted. To those who seek way's to cheat 'Death' be ready for disappointment, for a method to cheat 'Death' can only be granted by the gods who hold divine power. While those who seek 'Death' should reconsider, life is precious after all. The reason I say this is because I knew someone who wanted to live forever because he feared 'Death' after watching his friend die, but no matter how much he wanted it, it couldn't be found only granted by divinity that found you worthy of immortality. That was why he instead searched for a way to stave off death, he found it but when used his personality shifted so much that it was impossible to recognize himself. This has shown me that life is a precious thing that is very fragile. Therefore it must__ not be taken lightly._

* * *

**Iraq, 150 miles from ****Baghdad**

Staring into the sky from his place on the ground Kusanagi Godou could only think '_why?'_

He was only here for vacation with his sister and grandpa who insisted that they come with him on a call about the folklore of ancient Mesopotamia from a friend he was acquaintances with. So_ why _did it end up like this?

"Hahahahaha! Come on _trash_! Is this all you can do despite saying you'll _save_ her?!"

_Ah... that was why... the person in front of him was holding his sister hostage... and he promised her that he would save her._

With strength that he didn't know he had, he got up and once more faced the _enemy_ in front of him.

"Yes! That's right _trash_, entertain me more! Struggle however much you want, for you will not even be able to _scratch_ me!"

Grabbing the sword that _he_ gave him, he once more charged at _him_ while letting out a roar. "Rahhhh!" As he charged he couldn't help but wonder '_why_' it came to this.

* * *

_The family of 3 had just gotten off the plane at Baghdad International Airport. It was the summer before Kusanagi Godou entered middle school and his grandfather Kusanagi Ichirou thought it would be a good idea to bring his family to the unveiling of a new artifact discovered in the ruins of ancient Mesopotamia by an acquaintance he knew back in the day. That was how Kusanagi Ichirou, Godou, and Shizuka found themselves in Baghdad, Iraq. Surrounded by the new sights Kusanagi Godou and Shizuka couldn't help but look around in awe and curiosity._

_They had shown up 2 weeks early since it was the summer and Kusanagi Ichirou wanted to allow his family to visit a new place that was different from Japan. That was how the Kusanagi family found themselves wandering around Baghdad, taking in the sights as tourists. By the end of the day, the Kusanagi family, tired from all the sightseeing and decided to check in at their hotel. On the way to the hotel though, Kusanagi Godou saw a strange sight where a blonde child wearing casual clothes fishing with a golden? fishing rod surrounded by other children._

_Writing it off as the strangeness of locals he's unprepared when the child suddenly spun his head around to stare right at him. Staring into the blood-red eye's, he saw a trace of resignation drowned out by a radiance for life. At least that was the impression Godou got from the child. Breaking off the impromptu staring contest when he felt his sister Shizuka tugging on his sleeve, he followed her towards the hotel but not before looking back at the blonde child that was still staring at him._

_Inside the hotel Godou could not help but let his thoughts wander back to that blonde child he saw, while he didn't know why, the blonde child intrigued Godou, why would someone so young have such an aura of resignation behind those eye's that were so full of life? It wasn't until he heard his sister say "Onii-chan...Dinner time..." while tugging on his sleeve before he snapped out of his thoughts. Following her to the hotel's dining room his body went on auto-pilot and his thoughts returned to the blonde child once more._

_Even after dinner and when he was about to go to bed his mind was still occupied by thoughts of the blonde boy. Making a note to see if the blonde boy was still there tomorrow, Godou finally fell to the lull Morpheus and dreamed of a world that was forever on fire._

_The next day, Godou had woken up and told his grandfather that he was going to the river they had passed on their way to the hotel yesterday. It was 7 o' clock in morning, so he didn't have high hopes that the child was there. So he was understandably when the same blonde child was there still fishing. Slowly approaching the blonde child from behind, he tapped him once on the shoulder and the blonde child's reaction was instantaneous, he whipped his head around so fast that Godou wondered why it didn't snap. However staring into the blonde's eye's he saw recognition followed by curiosity as shown by him tilting his head to the side while the sense of resignation seemed to have grown just a bit._

_The blonde opened his mouth and said "na'am?"_

_Godou froze. It seemed that yesterday while he may have wanted to talk to the blonde he forgot about the language barrier. "E-eto..."_

_The blonde's eye's widened when he heard Godou speak and smiled. "Ah, my apologies I thought that you knew how to speak this countries language" in perfect Japanese._

_"Ah, I'm s-sorry it's just that yesterday when you stared at me, you made me curious about why your eye's held a sense of resignation to them despite being full of life."_

_After hearing this, he saw the blonde stiffen before relaxing. Wincing at himself for asking such a personal question he quickly apologized._

_"There is no need for apologies stranger, it is just that I had some thoughts on my mind that plague me, although I do congratulate you on being able to see that."_

_"A-ah I'm sorry." After a short silence Godou said, "By the way I'm Kusanagi Godou. Nice to meet you."_

_The blonde blinked once before smiling and responded, "Kusanagi Godou? A strange name but I'm Gilgamesh but you can me Gil. Nice to meet you too."_

_They once more descended into companionable silence. Gil with his fishing while Godou was staring off into the river. It was eventually broken by a kid that Godou vaguely recalled was with Gil yesterday. After he showed up they both conversed for a bit before the kid got up excitedly and ran off. Gil turned to Godou and said "He has told me that he and his friends are having a football match nearby, do you wish to come along?"_

_Nodding at the question Godou slowly got up and stretched to get the kinks out of his body. His grandfather wasn't expecting him until at least lunch so he had time on his hands. Following Gil to an abandoned lot he saw 2 makeshift goals made of poles sticking out of the ground with a tarp acting a net. Already there was a gathering of children ranging from the ages 7 to 9. Letting Gil do the talking, teams made and Godou introduced to his teammates for the game started. It seemed that he and Gil were on opposite teams so they would most likely be facing off. Mostly because Godou was the oldest on his team while Gil was the leader of the opposite team._

_The game started off even enough, but as the game progressed it was painstakingly obvious that Godou's team lacked the coöperation necessary to combat Gil's. That didn't mean that they went down without a fight, on the contrary the lack of communication seemed to have brought out the best of the people and instead they communicated with their eye's while Gil was heard barking out orders in rapid Arabic to counter Godou's team._

_In the end, Gil's team won but the game was close as seen by the score of 21 to 19 in Gil's team's favor. The player's had collapsed after the game and they were all laughing with their opponents. Gil especially was the center of attention if the pats on the back from the players were anything to go by. After the game Godou bid Gil farewell for the day since it was almost time for lunch and he had promised Shizuka that he would go with her on more sightseeing for the afternoon._

_Throughout the next 2 weeks Godou would go out in the mornings to meet with Gil and do various activities until lunch, which he would then go with his family on more sightseeing. Some afternoons he would go out with Shizuka and meet up with Gil for a relaxing afternoon of fishing. However he noticed that as the week went by more and more of Gil's eye's seemed to have a sense of resignation in them and the shine in his eye's would dull until they became cold._

_However on the day before the unveiling of the tablet Gil had an unusually solemn expression on his face. Godou who approached him from behind moved to sit by his side. Eventually Gil asked him a question. " Do you fear death?"_

_While initially surprised by the question, he guessed that this related to what had plagued his mind for the past 2 weeks. So after carefully considering his answer, he said, " ...I ... don't know". Gil stayed silent so that prompted him to continue. " It is not that I fear death, it is that I don't know _why_ I should fear death. It is something that will eventually happen to everyone" here he paused to remember his mom,dad and grandma "the only thing that we can do against death is to make our death meaningful so that people will remember what we've left as a legacy. So my answer is: I don't know"_

_Gil had closed his eye's as he listened. Eventually he asked, " If I were to threaten someone who you held dear with death, would you be able to defeat me to prevent me from doing so?"_

_Godou paused at this. The conversation was heading in a rather strange direction. Carefully considering his answer he slowly said, " Yes, if you were to threaten someone who I hold dear with death, I would do everything in my power to prevent you from doing so."_

_Gil smiled at this and said, " That's good." With that he got up and turned to Godou and said, "This will most likely be the last time we'll meet, tomorrow I'll be leaving so if we ever meet again, I hope it will be under peaceful circumstances." With that he gave Godou one last smile before walking off into the crowd, eventually disappearing._

_Yet Godou remained sitting where he was. He was pondering why when Gil said that he had a look of relief on his face yet at the same time looked so sad about what he said as well._

_Godou didn't know it, but that would be the last time he would meet with the person called Gil that he had gotten to know over the past 2 weeks._

* * *

"Rahhhh!" Godou roared as he charged at the blonde man in front of him.

The man simply flicked his hand outwards and in an instant various weapons fired at Godou from the distortion behind the man. Swords of various lengths, spears of different makes, any weapon imaginable shot towards the charging Godou. However Godou simply dodged them with reflexes he didn't know he had although he was still nicked in various places. Steadily pushing himself towards the blonde man holding his sister hostage.

The blonde man seemed amused by Godou's struggle if the insufferable smirk on his face was anything to go by. This just fueled Godou more in wanting to punch his face in. Narrowly avoiding a spear that nearly skewered him, Godou continued his charge, the distance between them was less than 10 meters, yet in Godou's mind the distance was more like 10 miles with all the weapons flying at him at various speeds. Still Godou advanced, for his answer remained unchanged even in this situation where his life was in danger. Slowly but surely the distance between him and the blonde shortened.

9 meters. He got nicked on his side by the blade of a scythe.

7 meters. A sword cut above his right eye blinding him.

5 meters. A spear skewered his left shoulder.

2 meters. Dodging a sword flying towards his head. He was almost within striking distance.

1 meter. The gap was nearly closed, but the blonde still had that smirk on his face.

Contact did not happen because right before it Godou collapsed. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness were the red eye's of the blonde that reminded him of Gil's. Followed by him hearing an explosion that sounded pretty close to where he was.

* * *

**AN: A story I thought up of after reading some Campione! and Type-Moon crossovers. It's always Shirou from Fate who ended up in the Campione!verse but what if it was just alot elements of Type-Moon was crossed? **

**This Gilgamesh was obviously bought over from the Fate side, but I had to find a way to not make him too overpowered or else he would be unkillable. So I decided to change around some of his abilities while changing some of his minor abilities in [Authorities] as well, but with conditions to activate because let's face it Gilgamesh's overpowered in Fate if he was the same in this verse he'll be broken.**

**Regarding Godou, I'm having a hard time balancing him out, deep down I want him overpowered, but if I do make him overpowered that would make a boring story because I think the endearing point of this was because the MC wasn't weak per say but had to struggle to make up for his lack of experience. So I apologize ahead of time if I end up butchering this character beyond recognition.**


	2. Chapter 2

_**The Fake King of Heroes**_

_**Prologue: A King who awaits death**_

* * *

_"Hey Gil, Have you ever wondered why you were born?" Godou asked._

_Gil had a look of surprise on his face at the deep question before he turned back to fishing. " I would guess that the reason I was born was to rule over people" he answered._

_Godou raised an eyebrow at this. " Why would that be?"_

_Gil stayed silent before saying, " It's because humanity has lost the power they once held in the past and as they are now there unworthy of living."_

_Godou just stared, until he started chuckling. Gil sent him an inquisitive look that he caught. So after calming down he said, "A-ah, I'm sorry, it's just that the way you said it just now was like you were a god that was passing judgement on humanity." At this Gil's eye's widened and then he smirked. "Who's to say I'm not a god hm?"_

_"Heh, I wouldn't know, are you?__", he responded._

_Gil just chuckled and asked, " Do you want to go have another match of football?"_

_Raising an eyebrow at the change in subject, Godou just shrugged and said, "Lead the way."_

_Giving off a smile, Gil got up and started walking towards the lot they last played at._

_Following Gil, Godou couldn't help but wonder. Why did Gil just suddenly change the subject when he asked that question?_

* * *

The first thing Godou saw when he regained consciousness was a white ceiling. To make matters worse the moment he tried moving his left shoulder his world exploded into white from the pain he felt. Gritting his teeth he tried his best to suppress the urge to cry out and assess the situation he was in. Slowly tilting his head so he wouldn't aggravate his shoulder, he noticed he was in a white room with white curtains blocking off one side while the window was half blocked by brown curtains. He also noticed the smell of antiseptic was in the air. Concluding he was in a hospital he waited for a nurse to come in, not trusting himself to move without aggravating his shoulder further.

Godou's mind was racing with thoughts. From where's his grandpa to what happened to Shizuka and most importantly, who was the attacker. He remembered his grandpa being carried away during the attack because he got struck by a piece of shrapnel from the first explosion while Shizuka got taken as a hostage by the attacker. The attacker in question bore a striking resemblance to Gil but he was 100% sure that Gil was not an adult, nor did he ever mention ever having a brother but he got shaken out of his thought's when he heard a nurse call for him.

"Godou-san , are you awake now?" the nurse asked.

Responding with a slow nod the nurse seemed relieved. Immediately after she went and called a doctor saying that he was awake. Less than 10 minutes later a doctor entered the room. He went straight up to Godou and started explaining the situation to him. Stating that he was found half buried under rubble from the last explosion that went off at the exhibition site with a gaping shoulder wound from what as far as they could tell a very long and sharp rock along with a multitude of scratches from shrapnel.

Slowly Godou asked in a raspy voice, "Where is this place and where's my family?"

"This is the Saddam General Hospital which you got brought to yesterday after the Emergency Rescue Team(ERT) managed to find you half buried under the ruins, while your family..." trailing off at the end.

Godou just gritted his teeth and asked, "Where?"

The doctor took a couple of seconds to compose himself before saying, "Your grandfather Ichirou Kusanagi is now unconscious from the ordeal and has yet to wake up, he has been concussed from the shrapnel hitting him so it would take at least another 2~3 days before he woke up by our calculations." Here he paused again before continuing "Your sister Shizuka Kusanagi was not found at the site and is now listed as M.I.A"

Godou got confused. "M.I.A?"

"Missing in action" the doctor clarified.

Godou tried moving as soon as he heard the answer, but his body immediately protested and he felt pain lance throughout his body. The doctor and nurse immediately tried calming him down stating that a search party is already underway and that she would be found soon so all he had to worry about was recovering.

Godou just grit his teeth knowing that she wasn't missing, she was held hostage by someone but they wouldn't know that and if he told them the chances of this spiraling into an international accident was high. If that were to happen then the quiet life that he secretly desired would forever elude him due to the stigma of getting involved in such an event but this was his sister, one of his last remaining ties to his family along with his grandfather. He couldn't just leave her with that person so for now he would just play the waiting game until his chance came.

Calming down he asked, "Where are my clothes?"

The doctor and nurse seeing him calm down and stop struggling moved back. The doctor said, "Your clothes are in the cupboard next to your bed. For now just focus on resting your body is still suffering the trauma of what happened to you." With that said the doctor and nurse left the room leaving Godou to his thoughts.

* * *

Godou's mind was a whirlwind of activity the moment the doctor and nurse left the room. He now knew where his clothes are at, now all that was left to do was plan out how to escape from the hospital without getting caught by security. He would then have to find _that_ man to find his sister. Then he remembered.

_"This place which I once ruled is the only place which I would willingly return to. As it's king anyone on this land is my subject. To me you are entertainment to pass the time while she" pointing at the unconscious Shizuka " is merely an incentive for you to work hard at keeping me entertained trash. Now entertain this king with your pathetic struggles trash, hahahaha."_

Taking into account what _that_ man said, then it was safe to assume that _he_ was still there just merely hidden, but where would he hide in a place that was on the verge of falling apart and a national treasure to boot?

Then the full weight of what _he_ had said hit him. _He_ was the _king_ of that place. That meant that he was someone who ruled that place. However he couldn't remember anyone ruling that place at all since it got discovered. So unless _that_ man was an impostor, then that meant _he_ was the ruler of the now decrypt Mesopotamia and if _his_ attitude was anything to go by, then _he_ was a tyrannical ruler which limited the amount of rulers.

While his own knowledge about the myths was nowhere near as high as his grandfathers even he knew of some of them. If he were to go by tyrannical rulers of Mesopotamia then the most famous would have the be Gilgamesh the fifth king of Uruk. Frowning at this he wondered if there was a connection between Gil and Gilgamesh since they had the same names and looked the same as well. Shaking his head he went back to facts instead of speculation. There was no point in what-ifs only facts that would help him save his sister Shizuka.

The only facts he knew so far was that _he_ saw him as entertainment and that _he_ can seemingly shoot weapons out of thin air from above his back. _He _ seemed to have attacked the exhibition site to grab that golden key that was the centerpiece for the event. Other than those facts he couldn't find any other facts about _that_ man.

Gritting his teeth in frustration he decided to move to the motive for the attack. As far as he could remember there was no other motive besides the centerpiece for the exhibition. Although it wasn't strange for there to be an attack if he thought about it, who _wouldn't_ want a golden key? Also where did the key go after _that_ man picked it up? He didn't recall it being on his person when he charged at him. Giving it up as another mystery he couldn't solve he got to work on moving his body to prepare for his 'discharge' from the hospital.

It was more painful than he thought, but considering what his body went through it was kind of expected. It took him at least 5 hours to sit up and start moving around slowly while ignoring the pain from moving his battered body. During that time a nurse came in twice to make sure he was resting and every time he made sure that it was what the nurse saw when she came to check up on him. By the time it was getting dark he could walk around freely but any sudden movement would cause his body to explode into pain. Getting into bed he got ready to rest for a few hours before he commenced his self-appointed 'discharge', after all he would need all the energy he could get for this attempt.

Lying on his bed he thought of the meeting between Gil and his sister.

* * *

_"Oh? If I may ask, who is this?" Gil asked._

_"Ah..., she's my sister, Shizuka" Godou answered._

_"Onii-chan, who is this?" Shizuka asked._

_"He's Gil, short for Gilgamesh, a friend I made the day after we got here" Godou answered._

_"Ah..., is he the one you're always saying you're visiting every time you go out?" Shizuka asked curiously._

_"Yep, Gil gets along pretty well with the locals, and he's a great translator. Right, Gil?" Godou said._

_Gil just smiled and said, "Indeed, your brother goes through rather humorous motions when I'm not there to translate his words"_

_Both Godou and Shizuka let out an "Eh?" _

_Gil just smiled and __continued, "Like the time Godou didn't know how to say he had to go to the bathroom during the middle of a football game. It was quite humorous to see him mimicking the actions of using the bathroom in the middle of an ongoing football game. His teammates thought that he got hit by the ball while they weren't looking."_

_Shizuka looked at her brother and saw him flush in embarrassment. Smirking deviously she asked, " Neh, neh is there any other _embarrassing_ moments that he went through?"_

_Gil just pondered for a bit before grinning and said, " Why there was, we were fishing right here and when Godou here tried to fish he got so frustrated that all his fish escaped that he went down into the river to catch them with his hands, but he ended up failing. Then while he was angry a fish jumped out of the water and hit him in the face with its tail, it was quite humorous if I do say so myself."_

_Shizuka just giggled and asked for more. Throughout this entire exchange Godou was getting steadily angrier and by now he was at breaking point. So with a strangled cry of " You brats!" he chased after the two that started running from him._

_That day was the day Gil met Shizuka and vice versa and the day Godou regretted ever introducing them to each other, for they seemed to enjoy having laughs together at his expense._

* * *

Snapping out of his reverie, Godou looked up at the time and saw that it was almost 10 o' clock. The nurse should come in for another check up in 10 minutes before he had an hour and a half window to get out of here. Waiting patiently for the nurse to come in, he went over his plans again. First he would wait until the nurse left, then 10 minutes after that he would get up and sneak out of the hospital. He would have to use the emergency escapes since he had no doubt that if they saw him walking around freely he would be sedated and confined to a bed until he recovered. Luckily he wasn't so injured that he required being hooked up to a life support machine, that would've made his plans infinitely harder. After he got out of the hospital he would have to find out where he's located before plotting a way to get back to the site of the exhibition. If he remembered correctly, all he had to do was get on a bus and it would go straight there, so all he had to worry about was getting out of the hospital and finding the bus stop.

The nurse entered and made sure that he was getting ready his rest before testing him again for pains which he answered that he was feeling better. When she left, he waited for 5 minutes before slowly getting up and grabbing his clothes from the cupboard. After changing he slowly sneaked out of his room making sure to keep his steps muffled and making sure to avoid the nurse's station and nurses roaming the halls. Following the signs for the emergency staircase he came across patients that were returning to their rooms, he even saw some people that he saw at the exhibit but they weren't as injured as he was.

Getting to the stairs without getting discovered he made sure that there wasn't any alarm systems tied to the door of the stairs. From experience he knew that sometimes emergency stairs had an alarm tied to them to warn people of a possible emergency that warranted the stairs use. Seeing none, he slowly pushed open the door and started his descent. By the time he reached the ground floor, his body was starting to hurt but he ignored it in favor of walking out into the atrium of the hospital. Even this late at night there were a multitude of people sitting around looking nervous, pacing or just resting on the benches scattered around. Looking at the exit he was happy to see no one guarding it like in Japan. Slowly heading towards it, he made sure to go slowly so that he wouldn't appear suspicious to anyone, after all as far as anyone else could tell he was just a patient who hit his head and was now leaving. He had made sure that his clothes hid the bandages underneath to give off the façade that he was healthy.

Exiting the hospital he slowly made his way towards the hotel in the distance. Thank god his hotel was nearby or else he would've gotten lost since he didn't speak Arabic. As he walked towards the hotel his thoughts once more strayed towards a memory of Gil.

* * *

_"Could you promise me something Godou?" Gil asked out of the blue._

_"Yes?" Godou answered back confused._

_"In the future should I ever appear before you as your enemy, please take me down without hesitation" Gil stated._

_Godou got confused. Why would Gil be asking him to take him down if he ever appeared as his enemy? He asked as much._

_Gil just gained this melancholic look and said, " It is because I believe that in the future, you will be the only one that I would allow to take me down."_

_After that an uncomfortable silence hung in the air until they parted ways._

* * *

He was still confused about why Gil said that to him but he couldn't figure out for what reason. Stepping into the lobby of the hotel, he walked past the night-shift receptionist and headed up to his families room. He needed to grab some things before he set off to where he thought _that_ man would be, namely some money and a weapon. Entering the room he headed straight for his backpack and started rummaging through it, pushing aside spare clothes until he reached the bottom of the pack. At the bottom was a small mahogany box which he carefully took out. Removing the cover he stared at its content before slowly picking it up to inspect then he picked up the other part and concealed them both on his person. While his grandfather might have said that it is a family heirloom from the Edo period and it was priceless treasure, this was the only weapon that he could get his hands on. He doubted that he could walk into a store and ask to buy a weapon, so he would have to make do with this.

Getting up and heading out, he hoped that there were still buses heading towards the Tigris-Euphrates river this late at night or else he would have to 'liberate' a bike from someone. While it maybe wrong, his sister was more important than the preconceptions of a stranger. Luckily he didn't have to do such a thing, apparently the bus towards the river was a 24 hour thing considering its historical importance and the amount of tourists that always visit it. So paying the fare he sat at the back of the bus and waited for his destination to arrive.

While he waited, his thoughts wandered once more.

* * *

_"Remember when I asked if you fear death, Godou?" Gil asked._

_"Huh? Ah yea, I remember, what was that about anyway?" Godou asked back._

_"I was thinking about whether humanity should truly be allowed to live with the way they are now." Gil said._

_"Eh?"_

_"Do not be offended, I was merely stating that humanity as it is now is slowly poisoning the earth and they do not seem to care. So I thought if humanity were to all die, would the earth recover? or would humanity find a way to survive and rise once more?" Gil continued._

_"Oi, Oi, What does this have to do with the fear of death?" Godou cut in._

_"I am getting to it, so please have some patience" Gil said before continuing on. "Now if you once wished for immortality, and you received it in a way you didn't expect, would you be joyful that you are alive or sad that you must now watch the world move on?"_

_Godou just sat there in deep thought while Gil waited patiently for his answer. Eventually Godou said, " That would depend, if you were immortal in the sense that you can never be killed then that would be sad because it's like a curse to always watch people you knew disappear but if you were immortal in the sense that you don't age and can still die, then you would be happy, because you would be able to see what the future would eventually be like and if you ever wanted released then you would just seek death or to quietly just fade away."_

_Gil just listened and eventually asked, " What if you got summoned as an immortal by the beliefs of the people to destroy them?"_

_Godou just thought in silence before saying "... I.. don't know..."_

_Gil continued to ask, " Then what if you got summoned as an immortal who has grown tired of life but don't wish to move on? What would you do?"_

_Godou stayed silent before saying, " I would continue to live even if I have grown tired of life, just because you got tired of it doesn't mean anything, you just have to find something that would spark your interest in life once more."_

_Gil just stayed silent before suddenly bursting into laughter. "hahahahahahahaha"_

_Godou just raised an eyebrow asked, "What's wrong? Is it something I said?"_

_Gil just continued laughing but managed to choke out, "No...hahah..it's...ha...just...hahah... I... was right..haha.. you are truly an interesting person Kusanagi Godou."_

_Godou just raised an eyebrow at Gil's use of his full name._

_"Well if you're done laughing, may I ask what prompted you to ask such weird questions and how this relates to the fear of death?" Godou asked once Gil was clam again._

_And just like that Gil had a melancholic look on his face but he soldiered on and said, " I feel as though I will disappear soon, but in my place I would become something that I wonder how I became, so inevitably I started fearing 'my' death"_

_Godou just stayed silent and let Gil continue. Gil seeing him stay silent continued. _

_"As I feared my death is nearing, even now I feel as though I'm slowly disappearing, so I thought that if I were to disappear would I try to drag humanity with me? or would I kill myself to save them the suffering? These thoughts have always plagued me since I started feeling myself slowly slip away", here Gil paused before looking at Godou and smiled before continuing "but, now after speaking with you, maybe you're right about finding something interesting that will keep me from disappearing and for that I thank you."_

_Godou just smirked and said, "Who knew you could ask such deep questions when you're so young. Are you sure you're not an old man disguised as a kid?"_

_Gil returned the smirk and said, "No, I'm a god that's disguised as a child that got tasked with wreaking havoc on humanity."_

_Godou just laughed at his response, but the absolutely serious look on Gil's face made him feel awkward._

_"Seriously?" Godou asked. Gil just stared making Godou start squirming that _maybe_ he had pissed off a god._

_Then Gil broke out into laughter. Godou got ticked with off about the prank and said, " It isn't funny!"_

_"Ah, but it was, you should've seen your face!" Gil laughed out._

_Godou just huffed and said that he was going back to his hotel. Gil waved good-bye, but not before stating " You will be the one to make this Gilgamesh disappear Kusanagi Godou."_

_Godou wasn't far away enough and heard it, but he thought it was a joke so he just continued walking unaware that if he looked around Gil was looking absolutely serious about what he said._

* * *

Shaking his head out of its stupor he noticed that he was almost at the river and got ready to get off. Although he was curious about why he remembered that particular conversation now but pushed it back since he had arrived. Stepping off the bus he started walking towards where the exhibit was, ducking under the yellow tape he entered the ruins carefully, making sure that no patrolling guard saw him. As he approached he felt a weird feeling passing through him, as though he had just walked through a wet wall. Continuing on he noticed a light coming from the left of the exhibit close to where he had fought _ that_ man. Heading in that direction he ended up at exactly where he was before as shown by the bloodstain that he _knew_ was his own and sitting right there atop the ruins in front of him was _that_ man dressed in golden armor with a red dress of some sort hanging in front of him while his sister hanging on a pillar behind him unconscious.

Grinding his teeth together at the sight of his sister hanging he growled out "Let Shizuka go!"

_That_ man just smirked and said, " I refuse, after all I never gave you permission to stop entertaining me, if you truly wish for your sister's freedom, then entertain me and if I feel generous I _might_ let her go. Hahahahaha."

He just grit his teeth even more and got ready to charge at the man but stopped when he saw that golden distortion in the air behind _that_ man. _That_ man seeing Godou pause just smirked again and then something shot out of the distortion embedding itself in front of Godou.

Looking down he saw that it was the same sword he used from before. Looking up at _that_ man, he saw his smirk grow, and knew that _he_ expected him to use it again. Grabbing the handle he pulled the sword out of the ground and held it in both hands while _ that_ man just sat there grinning like a mad man, which in a way he was. As he prepared to charge he saw multiple distortions behind _ that_ man who started to raise his arm out and immediately remembered what would happen next, but either way he just charged just as the man flicked his wrist. The golden distortion immediately started firing its load at Godou who immediately started dodging as best he could, but the pain from his earlier wounds were starting to act up and he knew he wouldn't last long.

So throwing caution to the wind he charged straight at the man, dodging when necessary and blocking with the sword when he could. As he approached he noticed that the weapons were picking up speed the closer he got, so he knew the man was holding back on him. As he ran up the ruins he was almost within range of the man, he completely discarded any notion of defense and charged, intent on stabbing the man with his own sword but it wasn't meant to happen as the man just jumped over him and landed exactly where he once stood.

However this meant he could just grab Shizuka and run which he tried doing but as soon as he started approaching her, swords and spears flew past him and embedded themselves right next to Shizuka. Turning around he saw the man smiling at him and then he said, " Who gave you permission to rescue her huh trash?"

Gritting his teeth he turned to face _that_ man once more. The man just smiled again and made a 'come at me' motion with his index finger. That was all he could handle, _that_ man was mocking_ him_ as he struggled, that was it he didn't care anymore he wouldn't stop until he could punch his face in. Letting out a roar he charged at _that_ man like a bull. _That_ man just smirked and started firing weapons at him, but this time the weapons flying at him were faster than before, immediately presuming the man was starting to get serious he became more cautious but still charged at him.

It was much harder to dodge as the weapons picked up speed and he jumped out of their path unless he wished to see himself skewered. Hiding behind a large slab of rock he heard _that_ man call out, " Come on, if you continue hiding, how will I be entertained trash? If you don't hurry up I'll start using your precious sister as target practice, hahaha"

When he heard that his eye's went red, he immediately ran out from behind the pillar with a feral roar and charged the man. Moving at speeds he was sure he didn't have before the distance between him and _that_ man closed in a matter of seconds. The man showed a surprised look for the briefest of seconds before grinning one more and this time the distortions behind him multiplied until they almost blocked out the view behind the man. All at once the distortions shot out their weapons and this time at speeds he couldn't even see, but somehow he was able to avoid them. The man was further surprised as shown on his face when he dodged the weapons but he didn't care, all he cared about was pummeling the man who dare implied he would use his sister as target practice.

As he got in front of the man he prepared an overhead slash to cut him down, but that man just reached behind him and from the distortion pulled out a long sword and blocked his overhead slash by holding the sword horizontally.

As the swords let out a screeching sound the man moved his head forward and asked, " Tell me Godou, how was it that you were able to move beyond human limit's when before you could barely keep up hm?"

He just stared into the man's red eye's and growled out, "How do you know my name?!"

The man just smirked and laughed. "What's so funny!?"

"Ah, trash I thought my alter ego had given you more than enough clues to piece together a theory but I guess you're too much of an insect to figure it out" he responded.

"Alter ego? What are you saying!?"

"Hahahaha" the man continued laughing while Godou tried to break the deadlock between their swords. Then the man looked at Godou and said four words that caused Godou to freeze.

"Do you fear death?" _that_ man had said.

"Impossible..." Godou trailed off "Gil!?"

Immediately after he said that the man gained a look of anger on his face and he pushed his sword upwards causing Godou to stumble back. Who then immediately had to bring up his sword to block the mans own overhead strike. As the man pushed downwards Godou whose body was in pain slowly gave out. The man then snarled out, " Don't ever call me that! My name is Gilgamesh and only ONE person can call me Gil and YOU are not him!"

Godou was struggling to stay upright from the pressure _Gilgamesh_ was exerting on him and it showed. Summoning up his remaining strength he pushed Gilgamesh's sword off his and moved backwards until he got some cover to hide behind.

Gilgamesh wasn't idle, the moment Godou exited his swords range he immediately started firing weapons at Godou who took refuge behind a thick pillar that manged to stop most of the weapons but it was slowly being chipped away as clearly shown by the cracks running along its length as the weapons hit it.

Struggling to regain his breath Godou's thoughts strayed to what Gil had once told him about the origin of his name.

* * *

_"My name Gilgamesh means "Mythican Hero" in Sumerian and I like to think that is what I am." Gil had said. Then he asked, " What about your name, does it have any meaning?"_

_Godou who had listened merely shook his head and said, "My name Kusanagi's associated with one of the three treasures from my homeland but other than that I don't think my name Godou has any meaning. If anything the only thing that has meaning is my last name."_

_"Oh? Can I ask what its associated with?" Gil asked._

_"Sure, it's associated with the Kusanagi no Tsurugi which is one of the 3 imperial treasures of Japan. Originally the sword's name was Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi which meant Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven but got changed to Kusanagi no Tsurugi which means Grass Cutting Sword because it was more popular." Godou answered._

_"How about your name? What's it associated with?" Godou asked back._

_"Ah.., my name?" Gil said. he pondered for a bit before explaining. " Well my name's Gilgamesh which's associated with Gilgamesh the fifth king of Uruk and called the [King of Heroes] by many because he once owned all the treasures of the world which eventually fell into the hands of heroes who came into existence after his death." Here Gil paused to look at Godou who was listening in interest, when Godou heard Gil stop, he said, " Go on, this is very interesting, I've never heard about this in my homeland"_

_Gil just smiled and continued. "When Gilgamesh first became king he was a tyrannical ruler who didn't care about his people, but his people prayed to the god's wishing for someone to change their king. Eventually the Goddess Aruru answered there prayers and created a golem from the earth in the shape of a man. This golem would later be called Enkidu who embodied the wildness of nature and when he and Gilgamesh met they clashed in a wrestling match which resulted in a tie" here Gil paused to take a breath "after the clash both Enkidu and Gilgamesh became friends and Enkidu helped Gilgamesh rule his land, and the people eventually praised Gilgamesh for the prosperity they experienced. Throughout his rule his friend Enkidu stayed by his side the whole time, going on adventures together and plotting out new ways to conquer the neighboring lands. Such as when Gilgamesh and Enkidu teamed up together to kill Humbaba the guardian of the forest and brought cedar wood back to the timber less Mesopotamia. However tragedy began when Gilgamesh rejected Goddess Ishtar's wish to marry him, in her spite she asked the god's to unleash the Bull of Heaven on earth to wreak havoc. For 7 years the Bull rampaged the earth causing mass famine and destruction, Gilgamesh couldn't bear to witness it any longer and he and Enkidu set out to stop it. When Gilgamesh managed to chain the Bull up, he and Enkidu both killed it." Taking another breather Gil continued "Goddess Ishtar, enraged with the death of the bull made an appeal to the god's to kill one of them for daring to go against god's will. It got approved and Enkidu who god created became sick and suffered for 12 days before dying. Gilgamesh seeing his friend die, became aware of his own mortality and started looking for a way to become immortal. Eventually he came across the sage Utnapishtim who had survived the "Great Deluge" and the gods granted him immortality. Failing the task to obtain immortality but impressed by his adventure to find him,Utnapishtim pointed the way for Gilgamesh to retrieve a plant that granted youth. When he found the plant and was returning to Uruk, a snake ate the plant while he was bathing at a river. When he returned from his bath he noticed that the plant was missing and a snake-skin was where he left it. After that he returned to Uruk and patiently waited for his death to come knowing that immortality was a curse and wiser than before." Gil ended._

_Godou slowly started clapping along with the rest of the audience that he had unwittingly gathered while he was talking about the origin of his name._

_Gil just smiled and asked Godou "Are you satisfied now?"_

_"O...Ou, I'm satisfied it was very interesting." Godou answered._

* * *

I snapped my eye's open._"Impossible...does that mean I'm up against the king of Uruk!?"_ I thought. Hearing cracks from behind him I immediately threw myself out into the open away from the pillar. It was a good thing too considering the pillar just collapsed from the stress of having so many weapons hit it. The bad thing was that I threw myself right out into the open and it seemed Gilgamesh wasn't done with firing off his weapons from his distortions - _treasury_ my mind corrected. All the weapons being shot at me were from Gilgamesh's treasury from when he owned every treasure in the world. That just made me more scared, weapons that would be wielded by future _hero's _are being fired, at me dammit! Narrowly avoiding getting skewered by a golden spear I hid behind another pillar while my mind tried to come up with a plan that would work against the person that was firing _shitloads_ of weapons at me in anger.

Then I remembered that when I was right in front of Gilgamesh, no weapons fired at me. That meant that the distortions could only fire at targets that were far away and right in front of Gil wasn't far away enough, I wasn't sure about behind him but with this I had the basis of a plan. Rushing out from behind the pillar I once more charged with sword in hand at Gilgamesh who still had that snarl on his face. This time though I was getting nicked by the weapons I couldn't see but was still somehow able to dodge. I _really_ had to find out how I was doing this, it was like his body was moving on its own.

10 meters from Gilgamesh and I parried a sword that threatened to slice off my arm.

8 meters and I ducked under a scythe that wanted my head.

5 meters a mace that hit the floor caused the shrapnel to shred my clothes and peppering me with scratches.

3 meters and I got nicked in the sides by a pair of swords.

2 meters and I saw Gilgamesh reach behind him while the weapons stopped coming.

1 meter and Gilgamesh was pulling his weapon out while I was swinging a horizontal strike to his chest.

Just before my sword could hit him I stopped. Confused I stared at my arm only to find out that it was being held back by chains appearing from thin air - no, not thin air - from the distortions around me. Gritting my teeth I concluded that I got baited into thinking that Gilgamesh couldn't fire his weapons at me if I entered close combat range. My anger must've showed because Gilgamesh just grinned at me and said, " Did you really think you had any hope at all of putting even a _scratch_ on me trash?". Then he raised his sword and prepared to cut me down while my right arm was bound by his chains - chains that bound the bull of heaven if I guessed.

He continued saying, " You've been rather interesting entertainment but our time must come to a close, it would seem that the hope my alter ego put in you wasn't enough hm, don't worry though when your gone, I'll send your sister to join you, followed by the rest of humanity, ahahahaha"

I don't know what happened next but all I knew was that one second I was about to get cut down and the next I was moving my left arm to my back pocket and pulling the tanto out of its sheath and swinging it at Gilgamesh's neck. Even then it wasn't enough because as soon as he saw the tanto heading for his neck, he immediately jumped out of its range and the chains around my arms disappeared along with the distortions in the air that surrounded me. Deducing that the chains had a set range I made a mental note to keep it in mind.

Gilgamesh was 20 meters away now and this time his eye's narrowed when he saw the tanto in my left hand. Then he said, " Hoh, to think you would have a cursed weapon, perhaps my alter ego was right in a way after all. You truly are an interesting person trash."

Bringing my left arm in front of me, I held the tanto in reverse grip while my right arm held the sword Gilgamesh had given me pointing forward. Tensing my leg's I prepared to once more charge at him. This time though instead of Gilgamesh firing his weapons at me he pulled out two long swords before the distortions surrounding me disappeared. Warily looking around I saw no other distortions around me before shifting my gaze back to Gilgamesh who had gotten into a stance. Seeing my gaze he said, " Don't misunderstand trash, I just felt like cutting you down myself now that you actually show _some_ promise of entertainment, if I were serious you would be a pin cushion before you could even blink." With that said he charged forward and in the blink of an eye I was on the defensive barely blocking his strikes and when I couldn't he would end up cutting into me.

In less than 3 minutes I sported cuts everywhere on my body and my wounds from yesterday were slowly starting to bleed again. Especially my left shoulder, that wound was leaking like a bottle of water with a hole in its side. Grimacing at the bad comparison I prepared for a last-ditch attempt at cutting down Gilgamesh. Rushing at him with sword and tanto in hand, I directed a diagonal strike at Gilgamesh's right shoulder with my right while my left hand came up from the bottom left to slash at his left hand in hopes of disarming him. I was partly successful, my tanto managed to knock away it's intended target while Gilgamesh blocked my diagonal slash with his own sword, but this left his left side open to a strike from my tanto which I immediately capitalized on by trying to stab it into his stomach. However I felt the sword in my right hand disappear and I turned my head to look up at Gilgamesh's grinning face.I immediately realized that he had dispelled the sword he had given me,and I immediately altered the course of my tanto to block the overhead slash from Gilgamesh.

I got forced on my knees from the force of the blow and then my body gave out and I fell to the ground, blood slowly pooling around me. Glaring up at Gilgamesh I struggled to get back up but my body wouldn't obey. Gilgamesh just stood above me with that damn smile on his face. Then he started talking.

"It was_ fun_ trash, its been such a long time since anyone has entertained me this much, _but_ it would seem that you couldn't kill me like my alter ego had hoped."

I showed surprised at this, his alter ego wanted me to kill him? Why would he want that? Then I remembered what Gil said, "_I feel as though I will disappear soon, but in my place I would become something that I wonder how I became, so inevitably I started fearing 'my' death"_. Now it hit me. Gil knew this was what he would become when he disappeared. That was why he kept asking me to cut him down should he ever show up as my enemy and threatened someone I held dear, namely my sister. Glaring up at Gilgamesh I growled out, " Are you saying that I can't kill you let alone scratch you?"

"Hoh? I never implied that, but I _doubt_ you could scratch me to begin with, I've seen your interactions with my alter ego and I know you would never _willingly_ hurt someone who wasn't at fault. Since I got bored with waiting for the man to show up with the treasure he dare take from me I prepared to cause a disturbance near it which would cause panic, and using that window I kidnapped your sister so that you had a motive for attacking me. So in a way your actions were _manipulated _ by me! Hahahah!" Gilgamesh said.

Gritting my teeth I bit out, " Are you truly doing this for entertainment?! For a second there I thought you were seeking defeat!"

Gilgamesh stopped laughing and looked at me with a disdainful expression. Then said, " Don't kid yourself trash, I merely wanted to see what was so interesting about you that would make my alter ego put his hopes on _you_ defeating me! I do have to say though that you're more interesting than I had originally thought, but this end's here trash. Die!" With that the distortions appeared above me and I knew that if I didn't act fast I would be killed.

So with the last of my strength I recovered from stalling, I threw the tanto in my left hand at him. Or at least I tried to, instead my body _somehow_ got up and swung the tanto at Gilgamesh while I instinctively cried out _"__Oni-Goroshi (Demon Slaying)". _What happened next boggled my mind. From the tanto a gigantic ethereal sword formed around it and it followed the slash path of the tanto. Due to the increased length I saw Gilgamesh get smacked by the ethereal blade and sent flying into the ruins behind him with enough force for him to break through it completely and only coming to a stop when he hit the pillar behind it. I saw him slide down and I collapsed myself, whatever I just did drained me so much that I was gasping for breath. Looking at the tanto I had in my left hand, I saw that the wooden handle material had splintered and all I was holding in my hand was the _tang_ part of tanto.

Slowly pushing myself up on my knees, I started crawling towards Shizuka who was STILL unconscious despite all the noise our fight had generated. Then I heard it, the sound of someone approaching. I hoped against everything that it wasn't Gilgamesh but my hope shattered when I heard his voice.

"You _TRASH!_ How dare you!" the voice snarled.

Turning my head, I saw Gilgamesh emerging from the ruins, but he wasn't uninjured, the armor he had worn at the start was gone and now his chest was bare to the world. He had ominous red tattoos on his chest that seemed to travel to his back as well. His usual smile - no I recognized it as a sneer now- was missing and he was baring his teeth at me.

"I was going to put you out of your misery painlessly but now after what you've just done I think I shoulder annihilate your sister first before you join her." With that a distortion appeared above his outstretched palm and the golden key from the exhibit appeared in his hand. Then Gilgamesh brought up key and turned it in the air. Immediately afterwards a spiderweb of lines appeared in front of him trailing up until it reached above the ruins, then it shattered. From a distortion above Gilgamesh's empty a handle slowly appeared, then the circular guard followed by a tube of darkness with red lines running around it. Grasping the handle Gilgamesh brought it out to his right.

He then said, " Be grateful trash, I rarely bring out my one greatest treasures for anyone and for you to make me bring out both is the highest honor I can give anyone. So die knowing that you made me angry enough to bring this out." With that, the 'sword' if it could be called that slowly started spinning and an aura of red started to gather around it.

My body instinctively recoiled. Whatever it was my entire existence was screaming at me to run, it was too powerful for anyone to comprehend and I agreed, whatever it was my fear was slowly overpowering my senses but I preserved as best I could because no matter how much I wanted to run, it would be pointless. So with grim determination I gripped the tanto tightly and hoped that I could do what ever I did before now. As if responding to my thoughts, the ethereal blade covered the tanto once more and stretched out until it was at least 5 meters long. Gripping the tanto I charged at the still figure of Gilgamesh.

* * *

By now the 'sword' that Gilgamesh had brought out was spinning so much that the space around it became distorted by rapidly spinning winds of red. Then he shouted, "This is the end trash! _Enuma Elish_!" while thrusting it out in front of Godou who was charging at him.

Godou on the other hand was almost withing range and he prepared for an overhead strike. Pouring his entire being into the attack, he instinctively shouted "_Kokusatsu!"_

As the two attacks met Gilgamesh's _Enuma Elish_ continued onwards completely bypassed Godou's _Kokusatsu _while Godou's _Kokusatsu_ phased right through Gilgamesh's _Enuma Elish_. Both attacks ignored each other and went straight for there users.

Godou only had enough time to whisper out "Shizuka..." before his entire body from waist up got blown into oblivion.

Gilgamesh on the other hand was cut in half but managed to remain conscious in an upright position. Staring at the spot where Godou's upper body was before it got blown into oblivion he stared at his remains and said," He-he Godou, it seems you were able to stop me after all, but now isn't the time for you to disappear, your time has still yet to come." Slumping down he stared up at Shizuka who wasn't affected explosion due to the divine space he had set up before the battle to protect her. "Ah, Death you've finally come for me, but it would seem that my death has saved someone for once, right Godou?" Staring at Godou's lower body that was slowly regenerating the obliterated upper body, looking into the sky Gilgamesh stated "I look forward to the day when I once more grace this world, I wonder what you will be like then Godou." before he slowly started dissolving into golden particles that blew away with the wind.

The only thing that showed he once existed was the golden key that was left where he disappeared . Before it too dissolved into golden particles but instead of being blown away by the wind it flew towards Godou's regenerating body and disappeared on top of it.

It wouldn't be until at least mid morning before the search party came in and found both collapsed on the floor with Godou collapsed on top of a pool of his own blood. They would immediately be rushed to the Saddam General Hospital where the night before Godou had staged a 'self appointed discharge'. Shizuka would be diagnosed with tiredness usually associated with people who hadn't slept for more than a week. While Godou's miraculously healed wounds would baffle the doctors at such a quick recovery rate. Although they couldn't explain why he seemed to be in a coma. They had speculated that since his body hadn't healed from it's initial trauma and then him forcing himself to find his sister, only to collapse from the strain of his wounds had aggravated his body so much that his mind immediately caused his body to shut down and his mind to enter a coma to help itself recover. While Godou was off in a meeting of his own with a woman who wanted to be called 'mama' and him seeing the truth of the world.

* * *

**AN: Well now, I think this marks the end of this prologue arc, and Godou's meeting with Pandora is in the next chapter. Although I never watched the anime because I have a bias for them since they always seem to kill the LN in some way I'll try to make this Pandora's personality as close to canon as possible.**

**This was the first time I wrote in first person and wrote a fight scene, so any tips to help me improve is much appreciated. I know some people might be disappointed by how the fight scene turned out, but this was the best I could do.**

**This chapter was written in a day so I apologize if there are any mistakes on it that make it hard to read. I thank KaiserBlak for giving me lots of ideas as to what I should do regarding the [Authorities] gained from this fight. I also thank bakapervert for his review which holds many good points, the way I see it Gilgamesh willingly lower's himself to the level of his opponent because if he didn't then he would just end up slaughtering his enemy without even trying. While I'm not dismissing your points out of hand, I just think that all god's are so arrogant about themselves that they would never believe themselves capable of being beaten by a human.**

**The weapon Oni-Goroshi(Demon Slaying) and the technique Kokusatsu(DeathBlow) was taken from Shaman King because I thought that it was pretty cool when I first read it and it seemed to fit the mechanics of this LN, if Ame no Murakumo no Tsurigi existed then a Tanto with such an ability is possible too right?**

**Edit:Does anyone know Shizuka's age as of canon?**


	3. Chapter 3

_**The Fake King of Heroes**_

_**Interlude: Meeting Pandora and the 'truth' of the world and aftermath**_

* * *

**Report from the Government of Iraq about terrorist attack on the exhibit near Baghdad in the ruins of Mesopotamia, Beginning of the 21st Century**

We,of Iraq, offer our sincere condolences to the families who were unfortunate enough to have been at the site of the terrorist attack during the opening of the exhibit about the artifact found in the ruins of Mesopotamia. The artifact in question was a golden key that was found by Archaeologist Abdul Muqaddim during one of his annual expeditions into the ruins of Mesopotamia in hopes of discovering something that other's might have missed. It was during his most recent expedition that he had discovered a hidden door in the ruins of Mesopotamia that led to him finding this golden key.

It would seem that the target of the terrorist's who attacked the exhibition was this golden key which has been missing since the attack had happened. Analysts speculate that the key must've been part of something important to warrant such a use of force that badly damaged majority of the ancient ruins of Mesopotamia.

A message from the President of Iraq, Talal Tabani states that the government is already on the look out for the terrorists that had attacked the exhibition and they would soon be bought to justice for damaging a national treasure.

The only person who was gravely injured during this attack was a tourist who eventually fell into a coma which our doctors have stated is because of trauma to his body and has yet to wake up. Due to the patients family demanding privacy, his name won't get mentioned in this report. The rest of the casualties had a number of cuts, bruises, and abrasions.

Eyewitness reports state that the attacker was a blonde man who swooped in to grab the artifact and was immediately lost sight of in the mass panic that ensued. Please citizen's, if you see a suspicious blonde man near your neighborhood, call the emergency hot line that our government has set up to better track the culprit.

* * *

When Godou woke up, he felt surprised, after all the last thing he remembered was his entire being blasted into oblivion by Gil's Enuma Elish. More surprising was that he seemed have slept on someones lap. Looking up he saw a girl who looked a bit older than him with violet hair? or was it purple? looking down at him with an expression he couldn't put a finger on. Opening his mouth Godou asked, "Where am I?".

The girl just tilted her head to the side before saying, "Congratulations on becoming the youngest Campione in history~!" completely ignoring Godou's question. Godou just stared at the girl before asking "Where am I?" again.

Continuing on as if she hadn't heard anything, the girl continued with her speech. "I'm Pandora, the witch who brought forth all disasters and a shred of hope, but you can call me 'Mama'."

Godou sighed again and asked "Are you done?"

The newly named Pandora just continued smiling while looking down at him.

Godou just lay there uncomfortably before saying "...Pandora-san?"

She continued smiling.

Godou just looked up into her smiling face and realized what she wanted him to say. Sighing he said, "...Mama.." in a small voice.

Instantly Pandora's mouth opened and let out a "Waii~, I finally got called mama~"

Sighing at this Godou looked around and asked, "Where is this?"

When Pandora didn't respond he cringed internally and rephrased it. "Where is this place...mama...?"

Pandora just smiled and said, " Why this is the boundary between Life and Death of course!"

Godou just stared and asked, "The boundary between Life and Death?"

Pandora nodded. "Uhm, you're stuck between being alive and dead, though I must say I didn't expect you to win against that child even if he wasn't at full power."

Godou got more confused. Child? Full power? What?

It must've showed on his face because Pandora launched into an explanation. "Well you see the child I'm talking about is Gilgamesh of course" Godou choked at this, He knew that the alter ego of Gilgamesh was a child but the other ego of Gilgamesh was surely that of an adult. So he asked, " How is Gilgamesh a child?!"

Pandora just looked at him like he was an idiot. Then she said, " I'm the witch that brought forth the disasters of the world, a child like Gilgamesh is 1000 years too early to get called an adult in my eyes, so everyone is a child to me, even you. Don't worry though you're my adopted child so I rank you higher than others." Godou just stared unsure of what to think of this development.

Seeing Godou speechless she continued her speech." Now as I was saying, I was very surprised that you could even defeat Gilgamesh despite how weakened he was." Godou raised an eyebrow at this and asked, "weakened?"

Pandora nodded. " Uhm, weakened, but before that I think I should explain to you how this relates to your situation. You see back when I was just a normal witch who married Epimethius the Titan hindsight, I was given a magical box which contained all the evils in the world along with hope. Being the curious woman I am I decided to open it. Immediately after I opened it all the evils of the world escaped and took the form of a system that summoned [Heretic Gods] when they rebelled against their myths. These [Heretic Gods] become destined to bring disaster wherever they went and lots of world-wide disasters begin because of them under the guise of diseases, civil wars, etc. However from the box a small hope was also released, that hope took the form of a ritual that created a being that could stand on par with the [Heretic Gods]. They are humans who had the luck to somehow kill a god and from there, using the body of the god they had defeated a dark ritual of rebirth which get's carried out automatically they are reborn as Devil Kings, God-Slayers , a Supreme Lord... a Campione. Now how this relates to your situation is _you_ are one of those lucky enough to somehow kill a [Heretic God]. Despite how weakened the God was, he was still at his full power so now you're undergoing the dark ritual of rebirth."

Godou's brain just stalled, the only word that came out of his mouth was "Eh?"

Pandora just giggled. " That's right as of now, your body is undergoing a change to better suit your status as Campione and as a Campione you have to call me mama! After all every Campione is my adopted child no matter what anyone says!"

Godou sputtered. "Bu, but how does this relate to Gilgamesh being weakened?"

Pandora had an 'O' expression on her face. "He he, sorry it seems I was so happy about gaining another child that I completely forgot about my explanation. Well you see a [Heretic God] draws power from their own will and determination. However Gilgamesh's will and determination was low even for a [Heretic God]. Tell me do you think that the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh has an alter ego?"

Godou answered "Yes."

Pandora just smiled and said, " Well you're wrong."

"Eh?" was Godou's response.

"Gilgamesh is the King of Heroes, who's famed for being the greatest hero of all times and after seeing the child Gilgamesh would you believe his alter ego is the King of Heroes?" Pandora asked.

"Now that I think about it, it does seem strange for the King of Heroes to have such attitude" Godou admitted.

"Exactly as you said, Gilgamesh [The King of Heroes] shouldn't have an alter ego, but Gilgamesh ['The King of Uruk'] is also an aspect of Gilgamesh [The King of Heroes]. Basically since his rebirth as a [Heretic God], the person you know as 'Gil' is the [King of Heroes] aspect and the adult known as 'Gilgamesh' is the [King of Uruk] aspect and both have clashed against each other trying to gain full control of their body. Now how this correlates to Gilgamesh being weakened, you have to keep in mind that a [Heretic Gods] power gets determined by their will and determination, with two aspects in one body its inevitable that their wills and determination would be split and clash. On one hand Gil who wasn't burdened by his own myth was content to stay in the Domain of Immortality, while Gilgamesh got burdened by his myth of dying and rebelled. Normally in such a situation 'Gil' wouldn't be summoned as a [Heretic God] because he isn't really rebelling against his myth, but 'Gilgamesh' is also a part of 'Gil' and vice versa, so when Gilgamesh rebelled, Gil got dragged along and they got summoned as a [Heretic God] in one body. After being summoned though, Gil was in control most of the time so his [Authorities] as a [Heretic God] were those of his [King of Heroes] aspect. However the only way to return to his myth was to get killed, but when he tried to Gilgamesh [The King of Uruk] would rise to the surface and stop Gil from returning them back to their myths. So Gil accepted this 'curse' and sealed away his [Authorities] into a golden key and left it in the place he once ruled over and left to wander around in search of death. Then he met you."

"Eh?" Godou let out.

Pandora continued as if she didn't hear him. "After meeting you, Gil slowly started seeing that he shouldn't confine himself to his own myths nor should he seek death, instead as you said he should enjoy life and search for things that would spark his interest in living once more. However because of his meeting with you, Gil's mindset changed and Gilgamesh slowly started usurping Gil's control every now and then, until eventually he became the dominant personality and attacked the exhibit that held 'their' sealed [Authorities]. What Gilgamesh didn't notice was that during the span of your fight with him, Gil was slowly regaining control of the body and by the end, just as you both released your attacks, Gil usurped Gilgamesh's control and became the dominant personality once more, but that was when both of your attacks hit each other." Here Pandora winced and asked, " Just where did you get such a weapon to begin with? I haven't seen a artifact like that since the Age of Gods."

Here Godou just answered, " I don't know, I just know it's a family heirloom from the Edo period."

Pandora just looked at him and said, "Well it doesn't really matter, anyway... the reason I say Gilgamesh's weakened was because both aspects of 'Gilgamesh' were fighting against each other both vying for control. Throughout your entire fight with Gilgamesh he had to devote a part of his will and determination to preventing Gil from taking over, and since there are two aspects inside one body, it meant he was fighting at less than half his normal strength since half of his will and determination got shared with Gil and Gilgamesh had to make sure that Gil wouldn't take over as well during the fight so his concentration was split. At best I would say he only had 1/4 of his normal strength."

At this Godou froze. That was only 1/4 of Gilgamesh's normal strength!? He unconsciously shivered in fear from where he lay.

Then Pandora put on hand on Godou's head and started to ruffle it. Then she said, "And this brings us to our current situation, you who are being reborn as a Campione from the defeat of Gilgamesh no matter how weak he was when you fought him. It's only insane luck that saved you, after all Gilgamesh got summoned as his [King of Heroes] aspect but he was unlucky in the fact that he had to share a part of his will and determination with another aspect and use another part of that to keep his other aspect in check. Your victory was built on an incredibly amount of lucky coincidences though, Gilgamesh [The King of Heroes] aspect did give you his sacred blessings in becoming a Campione, so as the overseer of all Campione I shall abide by his wishes and grant you the [Authorities] that he used. So Congratulations once more on becoming the youngest ever Campione~."

Then as an afterthought Pandora said, " Oh yes, when you wake up, you won't remember any of this."

Godou who had enjoyed the sensation his head felt at being ruffled immediately snapped his eye's open and shouted out, "THEN WAS THERE ANY POINT IN YOUR EXPLANATION?!"

Pandora who had been very close to him cringed at the volume of his shout. Automatically pasting a smile on her face that screamed death, she said in a chiding voice, "Now now, there was no need to shout I can hear you just fine you know"

Godou seeing _that_ look on her face froze up and shrunk in on himself.

Pandora seeing Godou properly cowed started explaining. " While you might forget this conversation we had, your mind will automatically recall it subconsciously, so you will know you're a Campione but you won't remember me specifically since I only appear to those who are at the boundary of life and death or those who killed a god and are becoming a Campione or those who killed a god and are gaining a new authority. So while you won't remember this conversation, at the back of your mind you will know what you are on an instinctive level."

Then she look up and seemed to smile sadly. Turning to look down on Godou she started speaking.

"It would seem that our time together is drawing to a close. Now remember you have 6 other brothers and sisters, don't fight with them because its bad for siblings to fight each other, make sure to watch over that cute little sister of yours, after all it would be bad for you to have risked your life for her only to forget because you gained a new toy to play with, be sure to watch yourself as well now, that you're a Campione other [Heretic Gods] will no doubt come to challenge you, okay? Now say good-bye to mama!"

Godou just gaped but when he saw the look Pandora was giving him that screamed death he quietly said, "Good bye...Mama".

* * *

When Pandora - no, when Mama said that our time together was drawing to a close I thought she meant that it was time for me to move on or wake up. I woke up alright, in the middle of space that is. I was starting to panic because I'm petty sure you can't breath in space. At least until I noticed that I wasn't choking due to lack of air. After calming down I seemed to notice that I was floating in space and all around me was darkness with a big blob of red in front of me.

It wasn't until I heard a voice that I thought I'd never hear again that snapped me out of my staring of the red blob. For right there was Gilgamesh but for some reason he didn't have his usual sneer that I got used to seeing during out battle, instead he was looking at me like Gil used to, with warmth. It wasn't until he asked if I was alright that I stopped staring. I felt surprise though, did _Gilgamesh_ just ask if I was alright? Where was that person who kept calling me trash? My puzzlement must've showed on my face because Gilgamesh just smiled and said, " Hello Godou, it would seem that we meet again a lot sooner than we thought huh?"

Immediately after Gilgamesh said that my eye's widened. Only Gil ever called me Godou, well Gilgamesh said it too, but it was only to mock me. So tentatively I called out "G-Gil is that you?"

Gilgamesh just raised an eyebrow and asked," Were you expecting someone else?"

I felt shocked. In front of me was Gil in his Gilgamesh form. I shakily asked, " H-How? Mama said that your body's used in some sort of dark ritual that would make me get reborn! And how do I remember my conversation with Mama anyway! She said I would forget it! Where is this!?"

Gilgamesh just smiled at my questions and said, " Indeed my material body's being used as the catalyst for your rebirth, as for your conversation with this 'Mama', I don't really know since I wasn't there. As for where this is... it is where the 'truth' of the world's located of course."

I was panicking now. Truth of the world? Just what kind of crazy dream am I having. Gilgamesh must've sensed my disbelief because he quickly assured me that this was not a dream and that this was the root of where all knowledge came from and would eventually return to. Trying to calm myself down by taking deep breaths I was partly successful. After that I asked Gil," If this is the root of the world, why am I here? Shouldn't I be waking up by now like Mama said? And what are you doing here?"

Gil just smiled and stated, " The reason you are 'here' as you put it is because you have managed to glimpse the 'truth' of the world, I don't know who this 'Mama' is but as for why you aren't waking up I can only deduce that you are in some form of unconsciousness that is preventing yourself from waking up and for the reason I'm here it is because you have defeated me and my body used as a catalyst for your rebirth, me being here merely signifies that I have returned to the root of the world and am now awaiting my time to once more be reborn."

"Eh?" I felt surprised. This place was where everything would eventually return to and be reborn? Looking around I noticed that the red blob that was in front of me was gone, instead I now saw a round rock covered in blue and brown. Then I heard Gil talking again so I tore my eye's away from the rock and listened.

"As for _how_ you got here, it would be my fault you see, when I use Ea - the sword that I used to obliterate you - anyone who survives it will always come here as a sign of Ea's respect for surviving its attack. After all Ea's very violent when he attacks and it wouldn't be strange for anyone who gets grazed by it to get obliterated either. However I think that Ea respects you for charging him head on despite your body screaming out in fear to run and he brought you here as his sign of respect to you even though you got obliterated by it. Or it could be because of the circumstances surrounding your 'death' even though you got obliterated by Ea, your ascension to Campione status revived you and Ea noticed you surviving and brought you here out of respect as well." Gil explained.

Listening to Gil's explanation I couldn't help but ask, " What about yourself?"

Gil just smiled again and said, " As it's wielder I always come here after I return to the root of the world or when I wish."

I nodded, it made sense in a way, I just couldn't find a word to describe it.

Looking at Gil once more, I asked, "Is your other aspect here as well?"

This time Gil just smiled sadly and shook his head. " No, I'm afraid that my other aspect no longer exists, it seems that it wasn't me who overpowered my other aspect, but you who killed him and granted me control once more."

Here I froze. I killed the other Gilgamesh? But didn't Mama say that it was Gil who overpowered Gilgamesh and took back control! She didn't say anything about this! So I asked Gilgamesh if he was 100% sure.

He just nodded his head and said, " Uhm, I'm 100% sure that you killed my other aspect and then I regained control"

Here I slumped down. I killed someone. An arrogant someone, but someone none the less. Was this what it felt like kill someone? To have your hands stained with the imaginary blood of someone on your hand?

Gil seemed to have sense my depressing thought's because he immediately said, " Do not concern yourself with his death Godou."

At this I looked up at him and said, "Explain."

Gil just sighed. " Well you see, you may have killed him but do not forget, he is still an aspect of a 'God' that merely means that he too will be reborn when the time comes, just like I will be"

At this I let out a relieved sigh, it seems that even if I had 'killed' somebody they wouldn't disappear permanently.

"So what does this place exist for?" I asked while looking back at where the rock was, which seemed to have gone completely white with a few black specks on it.

Gil smiled and said, " I'm glad you asked, this place is the 'root' of the world, which means all history and knowledge's recorded here in some way. Just visiting this place once will grant you knowledge that has been long forgotten and will destroy the view of reality that you have now and replace it with its own alien version."

"Really?" I asked. I didn't feel any more knowledgeable than before.

"Uhm, you'll most likely perceive reality differently when you wake up now that you've been here. I apologize as well since I'm not sure _what_ type of reality you will see when you wake up. It could be considered a gift and a curse" Gil answered.

Turning back to the rock that I now realized was Earth going through mass volcanic eruptions if the red popping up all the over the place was anything to go by I subconsciously agreed, no way in hell was I going to look at volcanoes the same way if this was what it was like. Then time seemed to fly by as Gil and I both stayed silent as I continued watching as Earth continued evolving.

It was truly fascinating, to see the age of dinosaurs followed by the Dark Ages and then the age of Stone, Bronze, and Iron. Seeing civilizations rise and fall I couldn't help but compare them to what it was like today. The amount similarities were scary but there were many differences as well. As the age of Iron came to a close, I noticed myself feeling sleepy.

Gil must've noticed my sleepiness because he started speaking. Listening while fighting off sleep was harder than I thought, but I heard him speak clearly.

"It would seem that the time of our parting is approaching. I had fun Godou, and now I look forward to the next time we meet, will the answer you've given me regarding death change or will you still have the same answer then?" Gil stated.

My eye's were drooping but I still heard him.

"Now go! Perceive the world with your new sight and the [Authorities] I grant you, for when I once more descend upon the mortal realm, I shall seek you out and once more question you. But be prepared! For the next time we meet on the mortal realm I shall face you on the battlefield with the full might of my power!" Gil clearly enunciated before my world faded to black.

* * *

When I woke up _again_, I prepared myself to not actually be awake, but it seemed like I was lucky, for I stared straight into a white ceiling when I woke up. Turning my head around I noticed that I was in a hospital again. As I pushed myself up on my back I looked down at my body and noticed that all the wounds I remembered getting from the fight had healed. Even the left shoulder wound which the doctor had stated that there would be scarring. Now all that was left was a faint outline of a circle that showed the shape of what pierced my shoulder.

Looking around I noticed that everything around me seemed _different_ as though I've looked at the world through fog covered lens. I just couldn't figure out _what _it was that I was seeing differently. Giving it up as a lost cause for now I got off my bed and hoped that my clothes were still in the cupboard. Luckily they were so I didn't have to worry about walking around in a hospital gown. Walking towards the door I tried opening it only to find it locked. Staring at the door knob I wondered just what made them want to LOCK a patient into their room? Trying to open the door one more time to no avail I gave up and went back to my bed. Looking around to see if there was a nurse call button, sadly there wasn't. Giving up my escape as a lost cause for now I patiently waited for a nurse to show up while I continued trying to find out what was different about the reality around me. Gil had said that because I 'saw the truth' of the world I would be granted knowledge that was long forgotten and I would have my view of reality destroyed, but everything looked normal to me nor did I feel anymore knowledgeable.

Sighing in frustration I changed my thoughts to a memory that felt missing. I know I talked to Gil about someone called Pandora who I also called 'Mama' but I couldn't recall such a person in my memories. Looking deeper into my memories I recalled a statement I let out, '_she said I would forget'. _Well that explained why I don't have a memory of the conversation, it seemed this so-called 'Mama' made me forget.

_'Mama... a strange word that I never got to say a lot, now it seem's that I've suddenly gained someone to call that.'_ Sighing I only hoped that this so-called 'Mama' wouldn't be the same as my parents. Closing off that train of thought I delved into myself instinctively to find out more about this [Authorities] that Gil had mentioned before I fell asleep? woke up? I wasn't sure.

It was a surreal experience, it felt like I was falling into a never-ending ocean but I found myself breathing just fine and despite how 'dark' it was it felt like I knew exactly where to 'fall'. By the time I felt like I reached the bottom I saw in front of me a pedestal with a golden key resting on it and directly in front of the pedestal was a giant glowing gate that I'm 100% sure wasn't there when I 'landed' .

Staring at the 'gate' I immediately understood what Gil meant by [Authorities], the 'gate' in front of me was the basis for all of his [Authorities], containing all of his treasures that he once owned I stood in front of the 'gate' that I now knew as the [Authority: Gate of Babylon] and on the pedestal in front of it was the [Authority: King's Seal], together they formed the basis for the [Authorities] of the [Heretic God] Gilgamesh. At least the [The King of Heroes] aspect, I wasn't sure just what kind of [Authorities] the [King of Uruk] aspect would have.

Looking at the [Golden Key] though, I couldn't help but admire the knowledge that seemed to instantly appear in my head. It was clear though that this was the [Authority] that would allow me access to the other [Authorities] of [The King of Heroes] aspect of Gilgamesh.

Further musings stopped when I felt someone shaking me. Returning from my jaunt into my -mind?- I looked up and saw a nurse shaking me from where I seemed to have ended up lying back on. Opening my mouth I asked, "Yes?".

The nurse seemed relieved that I was awake, she then pointed towards the door which was now open. Looking at her she continued pointing at the door, so assuming she was telling me to get out, I complied. Walking out I saw the same doctor as last time. Deducing that I was in the same hospital as before I quickly asked, "Where's Shizuka and my grandfather?"

The doctor merely held up his hands and said, "Calm down boy, you should worry more about yourself"

Myself? I thought. " Why should I be worried about myself?"

The doctor just looked at me like an idiot. Then said, "When you wake up, do you no generally check the time and date?"

Time? Date? What does this have to do with me? " What's that got to do with anything?"

He just pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Kid, you've been in a coma for a week, do you normally wake up from such an ordeal worrying about your family instead of yourself?"

"Eh?" I let out. I was in a coma for a week? What?

The doctor saw my face and explained." When you got brought in a week ago, your body was sporadically undergoing rapid changes and when that finally stopped, you just wouldn't wake up, so we concluded that you were in a coma from over stressing your wounds which had miraculously healed by the time you got brought in. I think that your body couldn't handle such a rapid change in your body and your mind forced you into a coma to prevent damage and mental trauma. Your grandfather who woke four days ago and your sister who regained conscious from here ordeal 6 days ago was quite worried about you. Your sister especially, she wouldn't leave your side until she found out your grandfather had awakened and even after that, she was by your side the whole time besides the times when she visited your grandfather who is still being kept hospitalized to make sure he has made a full recovery from the shrapnel damage."

Clenching my hands I asked, "Where are they?"

The doctor just turned around and started walking "Follow me"

Walking after him I couldn't help but feel worried, I had a great fear of hospitals since my grandmother had died in one and now that my grandfather was also hospitalized my fears have returned. Moving quickly to catch up I noticed that we had somehow traveled up a few floors when I wasn't looking. Stopping at a door besides a window that gave a view of the city the doctor said, " Go on, your families inside" and left.

That was all I needed to hear before I rushed inside. The moment I entered I was nearly knocked off my feet by something that hit me in the stomach. Looking down I saw a head of brown hair, which turned out to be my sister who was hugging me. Returning the hug I looked forward and saw my grandfather leaning up on the headboard of his hospital bed. He was smiling at the sight of us. Moving forward slowly while keeping my arms around my sister I asked, " Grandfather are you okay?"

I saw him nod and relaxed a bit. However I tensed up, when I saw him adopt a solemn face. Seeing me tense up, I saw him motion for me to sit down next to him.

Sitting down I waited patiently for him to speak. "I shall ignore why you were in a coma for a week because I know you felt worried about Shizuka being missing. What I can't ignore is why you disregarded the doctor's order to rest quietly and instead strained your body so much that your mind had to put you in a coma."

I just stayed silent.

Grandfather just waited for my answer.

In this silence my mind was a whirlwind of activity. What could I tell my grandfather that he wouldn't think I was crazy? I mean do I just say that I saw someone kidnap Shizuka and that he was the friend I made that suddenly grew into a man because he lost the fight to another aspect of himself? Just thinking about that wants to make me laugh. But I couldn't just not answer, my grandfather was waiting for an answer and if there was anything I know about grandfather it's that he's stubborn to the point of driving people crazy. So quietly formulating a plan that would fit the situation I answered, "When the explosion hit, I thought I saw someone grab Shizuka ad take her off somewhere but I couldn't follow since another explosion caused me to get half-buried. When I woke up and heard that she wasn't found I thought that she got kidnapped, so I immediately thought of the person who grabbed her and remembered him heading deeper into the ruins, but I got told to rest but my worries got the best of me and I thought of trying to go find her myself."

My grandfather just raised an eyebrow at my answer and asked, " You didn't mention this to the doctor why? It would've given them information to pass onto the rescue party."

Here I tried to come up with another answer, could I say that was because the person who kidnapped Shizuka turned out as the damn King of Heroes? Of course not, they would write it off as a crazy delusion of a child. So I said, " If I told them, I don't think they would believe me because I was half buried at the time. They might think it was because I was seeing things."

"I see..." my grandfather trailed off.

Allowing myself to relax just a bit I got caught off guard by his next question.

"Then why were you found with our family tanto in your hand? And for that matter why was the handle splintered? I don't know what happened, but even I know that you must have fought this so-called 'kidnapper' to the point that you lost consciousness. So where did this kidnapper go and how did your body miraculously recover?" he asked.

I stiffened. How to tell him the whole situation without sounding like a lunatic was becoming exceedingly harder. Trying to come up with an explanation I thought of telling half-truths. "I brought our family tanto with me because I thought the kidnapper might have a weapon as well, and the reason it's splintered was because I think the wood was getting old and I held it too hard. As for where the kidnapper went, I don't know he just sort of disappeared after I found Shizuka. As for why i recovered I don't know the last thing I remember was fainting in front of Shizuka."

My grandfather just continued staring at me. Then after a minute he sighed and said, " Very well, I won't pry any further into this, but you will tell us what happened if something in the future requires it. You should also know that the tanto's wooden handle _isn't_ old because I had it replaced less than 5 years ago."

"Eh?" I let out.

Grandfather just turned to me with a grin and said, " Do you really think that I would believe your pathetic half-truths? I've been alive longer then you and I've seen enough liars in my life to tell when someone is hiding something from me and you're 10 years to early to think you can lie to me."

I just stared and then I laughed, not the happy kind of laugh, but the hysterical kind. It wasn't until I got slapped in the head that I stopped. Apparently I was disturbing the patient in the next room. Now that I've calmed down though, I had questions.

"What happened to the tanto anyway? I didn't find it when I woke up, and is there anything special about that tanto besides coming from the Edo period?" I asked.

Here my grandfather paused before saying, "Hm, If I had to say if there was anything special about it, it would be that anyone who uses it seems to know how to use it immediately, it's saved my life during my youth." At this I grimaced, I could see why, my grandfather was quite a lady-killer back then and Japan wasn't so safe either, so a weapon that anyone could use with ease was a godsend to him, after all avoiding boyfriends that gunned for him must've been quite the task. " As for where the tanto is now, it's currently confiscated by the government."

"Eh? Why?" I asked.

My grandfather just looked at me and said, " it's illegal to carry around a weapon in this day and age, doubly so for us since we're in a foreign country as tourists, we have to obey their laws. We're lucky they didn't immediately lock us in jail and shipped us back to Japan. So they confiscated it and we've been given a 20000 yen fine."

"Eh? Will we get it back? It is a family heirloom right?" I asked.

Grandfather just sighed and said, "Yea, We'll get it back if we pay a 40000 yen fine instead."

At this I felt shocked, "40000 yen? Why? I understand the 20000 yen fine, but 40000 yen for its return as well?"

Grandfather sighed again and said one word like it was poison. "Politics."

I felt confused. Politics? What did that have to do with anything?

My grandfather saw my confused look and said, "Since the government couldn't find the thief of the exhibit, they have to look like they're doing something, so they're making us a scapegoat so that it looks like their doing something about the problem. Basically they're fining us this much to satisfy the people who live here."

At this I grimaced myself. Was this why Gilgamesh said humanity was unworthy of living? Here I paused, it felt like my mindset was a lot more different from before. Wondering if this was the result of seeing the so-called 'truth' of the world. Shaking such thoughts from my head, I looked once more towards grandfather.

"So basically we have no choice but to pay the fine? or else we'll be seen as conspirators in this attack?" I asked.

Grandfather showed surprise before nodding. "Uhm, I'm surprised you noticed that, but you're right, if we don't pay the fine the government will most likely point to us as accomplices of the attack even if have nothing to do with it. They need anyone to blame to save their own hides."

Nodding I asked, " How much longer before you'll be discharged?"

"Technically we can all be discharged right now but a government official is keeping us here until things 'die' down before we can leave." he said.

I scrunched up my face. Even I saw the hidden message, we're being held hostage in a hospital until the government deems it okay to let us leave. " But what about school? It starts in less than 2 weeks and we still have to book our flight back to Japan." I asked.

Grandfather shook his head and said, " We can only hope that things go smoothly"

I couldn't help but grimace in self-loathing. A part of me understood that if I never tried saving my sister we wouldn't really be in this mess, but if I didn't save her I wouldn't know what Gilgamesh would've tried to do to her. Now because of me getting caught in such a compromising position we're being held as hostages.

Shizuka who had been quiet throughout the entire conversation suddenly spoke up. " Neh, neh does this mean we can't go home?"

I looked towards grandfather for an answer and saw him shaking his head. " No, no we can go home, it will just take a bit longer then we would like, but we will."

At this I felt Shizuka relax in my arms and let out a sigh of my own. It seem's I've subconsciously tensed up at the thought of not being able to return home. With my worries put to rest I decide to ask, " So just how much longer will we be 'hospitalized' until we can leave?"

"Well if we're unlucky, about 3 more days? If we're very lucky, then we should get discharged by tonight if a doctor gives us the go ahead," he answered.

Looking at the time I noticed that it was pretty early in morning. Wasn't even close to the afternoon, so we had maybe another 12 hours to go if we're lucky. Sighing I resigned myself to a long wait. During this time I once more 'dived' into myself to understand more of what's changed since I woke up. Other than the fact that my body feeling stronger than before I don't really notice anything different. Although I was curious about why I felt like I had a pool of mp like in those video games I've played before but it seems like I couldn't do anything with it so I just ignored it. Though I was curious about why I felt like I could sense others with pools of mp inside the hospital along with outside in the city. Were they perhaps other so-called Campione that preceded me? Or were they something else. I distinctively remember there being a very small amount of Campiones, just not sure how many. Yet I could feel more than 10 moving pools of mp, does this mean they're something besides Campione? So many questions yet no answers.

I felt worried though. Since I've woken up, it feels like my mindsets been changed. I'm sure I would've never noticed the hidden message in grandfathers words before, yet I was able to see it clear as day now. Was this a result of my perceptions of reality being shattered like Gil said? Or was this perhaps my method of coping with what I've become? Does this mean I'm no longer human? What about the quiet life that I always wanted? For some odd reason, ever since I've become a Campione -just who invented such a name!- it feels like my dream of living a quiet life has slowly been disappearing and instead replaced by a dream of endless battles against lots of people.I was shaken out of my thoughts when I felt someone tugging on sleeve. Looking at the offender, I saw my sister looking at me.

When she had my attention she quietly said, "its lunch time."

Looking up at the clock I noticed that yes it's indeed lunch time, it seems that I was lost in my thoughts for a while. "Alright let's go get some lunch then" I said. Only then did I realize that I felt very famished myself. So walking towards the mess hall, I wondered just what kind of world did I step into when I saved Shizuka?

* * *

**AN: An interlude that is my 'explanation' for why this Gilgamesh was so weak. I know that my reasoning is weak at best and pathetic at worst, I felt I did a pretty good job of rationalizing why this Gilgamesh was so weak. Now before any of you start raging at me for killing their image of Gil, the way I see it there are all types of legends and myths about 'heroes' and 'gods', so it wouldn't be far-fetched for a god to get summoned with 2 different aspects. And for those who still won't give up about Gil, what I had in mind was that The King of Heroes aspect is the one from FSN while the King of Uruk aspect WOULD be an OC, but still have authorities that COULD come from his legend. God I feel like an idiot for defending myself about my story. **

**To bakapervert that pointed out plot holes in my first version of chapter 2 I thank you. I'm rusty with my knowledge the Nasu-verse so any comments about its appreciated along with ideas that could generally improve the plot.**

**As for Kain Everguard question, sadly I won't make it so that he won't ever use it again. Instead I'll make him use it as a weapon against normal magi, cause the way I see it, using Authorities to combat a magi is asking for overkill. The only reason that Godou had to use it against Erica in Vol 1 was because he had no other benefit besides his above average body and the instincts granted by being a Campione.**

**Also 9ths review, you're right him being a Campione at age 12 IS young, but... what I'm about to say might be offensive to some people so I'll apologize now, but based on what _I_ know of Iraq, they're the type to keep problems that originated in their country under wraps. Also I'm going to make it so that Iraq has no Magic Association. Instead Iraq has like a sub-branch of Copper-Black Cross or Bronze-Black Cross which monitors Iraq. However they won't really know the battle took place because they had already took all magical artifacts from Mesopotamia before and were sure there were no others there. So they just thought that the artifact found in the ruins was just that a non-magical artifact that others might've missed. So they just agreed and wrote it off as a terrorist attack. I know this is a cliche but I'm going to make magi arrogant as hell so they would believe themselves unbeatable and never wrong. This way Godou being seen as a Campione at age 12 gets written off as a kid with high magic potential instead of the crazy possibly of a kid who's 12 years old somehow killing a god. Basically magi won't believe Godou's a Campione and only Heretic Gods and Campione would be able to tell the difference. Regarding Susanoo I don't think he's omnipotent to the point of being able to check for presences across the whole of Japan, instead I think he looks for interesting events that could happen in the future. As for Godou and the History Compilation Committee I have a rough idea of his meeting with Mariya, Ena seems feasible, still thinking, while Erica is still a magi in training along with Liliana. So those 2 would have to wait till canon starts.**

**To those who wonder where the tanto came in, I'm pretty sure I said its a family heirloom of the Kusanagi family. As for its effect I'm still thinking about it. So far I've thought of it as a divine artifact that manifests as a sword based on the amount of 'mana/life force' out into it that could cut 'evil/unnatural' aspects or as an artifact that reflects the users 'will'.**

**Oh yes, after further research of Verethragna I've thought of perhaps limiting the amount of authorities Godou would receive from him, or at least changing the activation conditions. The way I see it the only reason that Godou had conditions in the first place was because even though he had the body of a Campione, he didn't have enough experience nor the understanding to use it. So when he received the Authorities from Verethragna the abilities weakened themselves to better suit Godou's need.**

**Now hopefully**** I've answered a majority of the questions directed at me. Don't expect another update for a while, I want to assemble a new plot after all these new ideas I got and have to plan out the next 3 years of Godou's middle school life before canon starts. Remember to point out any mistakes I might have and I'll be sure to fix and update as soon as possible.**


End file.
